Numbers 13: 30-33 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. But the men that went up with him said, We be not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had searched unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to search it, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it aremen of a great stature. And there we sawthe giants, the sons of Anak, which come ofthe giants: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

A very long time ago when I was going through an incredibly difficult time in my life, I heard a sermon that encouraged me so much that to this day, decades later, I remember the message. Lord, give me eyes to see.

It is so crucial that we have the eyes to see life through God’s eyes. Our eyesight is so limited and so distorted by our past and by our present, by our culture and by generations before us. Yet, God’s eyesight never changes and His ways are not our ways. That’s what He said. In fact, if there were one prayer to pray each day it wouldn’t be a bad idea to pray that on this day, Lord, give me the grace to see life, to see people, to see circumstances through Your eyes.

Throughout scripture God talks about vision. The sermon that I heard so many years ago was set in the time of Moses. The Lord had promised Moses the Promised Land. Moses took the Israelites on a search for this land. He sent out one chieftain (yes, chieftain) from each of the 12 tribes of Israel to scout out the land of Canaan to see if it was the promised land. He sent them and when they came back, 10 of the 12 said something like- “No way, dude. Compared to those people in that land, we look like grasshoppers. That land is full of people we can’t beat. They’re gonna eat us up!” Two of them, Joshua and Caleb, however, didn’t give the same report. They refused to have “grasshopper vision” and said they were sure that God would give them the land. Well, here’s what happened. As a result of the grasshopper vision held by the majority, the people of Israel wandered in circles for 40 years. Umm, that would be forty whole, entire years. And when the Lord finally allowed them entrance into the land, of those original 12, guess who was able to enter. Yup, you got that right. Joshua and Caleb and that is it. Those 10 dudes never got to see the land. They saw life through their own eyes and not the eyes of the Lord.

Remember Elisha’s servant and the Arameans? He was the one that woke up in the morning and saw this massive army descending on Elisha and him. Well, didn’t he freak out! (Well, yeah!) He goes to Elisha and says something like, “Oh crud are we in big trouble here! I’m freaking out! We’re goners!” Elisha, seeing the army, says to his servant something like, “Yeah but just look around at OUR army.” I’m sure that the servant might have thought Elisha was suffering from total loose screws. But Elisha says, “Hey God, would ya please let Him see life through YOUR eyes?” And you think the servant was freaked out when he saw the Arameans? He was blown away at life through God’s eyes when he saw God’s massive army, spread across the hills, chariots of fire there to save them! 2 Kings 6

Psalm 119: “17 Deal bountifully with Your servant, That I may live and keep Your word. 18 Open my eyes, that I may behold Wonderful things from Your law.

If we have God’s eyes to see those with whom we are angry, we would be set free. If we had God’s eyes for the vision He has for us- a future and a hope- then our joy would be complete and we would wake up every morning with a sense of all things being new. If we had God’s eyes for eternity, we would prioritize our lives in a different fashion and would value relationships more than property or “success”. God’s eyes see differently than ours do. And through His eyes, there is freedom from all kinds of bondage. If there’s a person in our life that you simply cannot stand, we must pray that the Lord gives us His eyes to see that person as He does. If we do it consistently and pray for that person for at least two weeks, we will see a change in our own heart. Just give it a try. When we have no hope for our future and life looks dim, the best thing to do is to spend some alone quiet time with the Lord and ask Him to reveal His plans for us, plans for good and not for evil, to give us a future and a hope. We can open our hearts and our minds and receive a new vision! We can reclaim the joy of our life back from whomever or whatever circumstance we have surrendered it to and put it squarely in His arms. It will change us. We simply must be His.

Takeaway: If we view circumstances through our own eyes or the eyes of the world, then we are not viewing reality. What we see appears as reality but what is happening in the spiritual realm is the true reality. If we see through God’s eyes all issues of our lives then our choices would be different, our freedom would be greater and our ability to further His kingdom greatly increased. It’s a much better place to live. We are to be in this world and not of it. What does that take? Letting go of our grasshopper vision and seeing life through the eyes of Truth.

Prayer: Dear Lord, I thank you so much for life through Your eyes being the truth. I want to know the truth. Please grant my prayer as I ask you to reveal to me life through Your eyes. Let me see the way you want me to see and choose the way You want me choose. Please give me Your vision for my life and grant me the grace to surrender to that vision. Because Lord, I know that if I do, I will be free.